Fox News Flash top entertainment headlines for Jan. 22
Fox News Flash top entertainment and celebrity headlines for Jan. 22 are here. Check out what's clicking today in entertainment.
Two women who have accused Cuba Gooding Jr. of sexual misconduct will be allowed to testify at his trial on charges that he groped three other women at Manhattan bars in 2018 and 2019, a judge ruled on Wednesday.
An April 21 trial date was set for Gooding, who previously pleaded not guilty to an updated indictment that covers the three accusations of groping.
Prosecutors said at the time that they had heard from more than a dozen women who could testify that the Oscar-winning "Jerry Maguire" actor was also inappropriate with them in similar settings — bars, hotels and restaurants — as far back as 2001.
CUBA GOODING JR. PROSECUTORS BRUSH OFF CLAIMS THAT HIS ACCUSER IS MENTALLY UNSTABLE
Gooding has denied the charges. His defense attorney, Mark Heller, previously called the allegations “incredulous” and assailed the prosecution as a waste of taxpayer dollars.
Gooding and his attorneys left Wednesday's proceeding without commenting.
Cuba Gooding Jr. leaves court, Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020, in New York. A New York City judge ruled that two additional women accusing Gooding of sexual misconduct will be allowed to testify at the "Jerry Maguire" actor's trial on charges he groped women at Manhattan bars in October 2018 and June 2019. (AP Photo/Mark Lennihan)
Attorneys are expected to return to court next week for a hearing on a protective order governing discovery.
Prosecutors wanted an earlier trial date, but Gooding's defense team said it needed more time to examine the evidence.
CUBA GOODING JR. PLEADS NOT GUILTY TO NEW SEXUAL MISCONDUCT CHARGES, COULD FACE UP TO 12 ACCUSERS
Prosecutors asked Judge Curtis Farber to allow a parade of witnesses to testify that Gooding violated them in bars, hotels and restaurants as long ago as 2001. None of those claims resulted in criminal charges, but state law allows prosecutors to call accusers not involved in the criminal case as witnesses in an effort to show a pattern of misconduct.
Gooding prosecutor Jenna Long said in a court filing that the previous incidents make clear that Gooding's "contacts with (women’s) intimate parts are intentional, not accidental, and that he is not mistaken about their lack of consent.”
Heller, meanwhile, has accused prosecutors of amplifying long-ago allegations to bolster an otherwise weak case.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
“The district attorney’s office has tormented Mr. Gooding, knowing his career and his life are on hold by cruelly delaying (this case),” he said in court last year.
Trending
